Eric Myers Jazz

sydney arts guide

This folder contains reviews written by Eric Myers for the Sydney Arts Guide, edited by David Kary. Readers can click on the INDEX button for a list of reviews or articles in this folder.

JAMES MORRISON & DARREN PERCIVAL AT THE LOUNGE IN CHATSWOOD

Reviewed by Eric Myers

Sydney Arts Guide, April 23, 2026

This might be an odd thing to say, but I feel that James Morrison is going from strength to strength. I say odd, because Morrison’s performances for a long time have invariably been sold out and, by any standards, extraordinarily successful. With such success under his belt, some might think that Morrison has already arrived, and has nowhere to go. But I venture to say that this performance of his quartet at The Lounge in Chatswood on Apr 16, 2026, with the addition of the vocalist Darren Percival, was indeed something else…

AARON BLAKEY: JAZZ PIANIST, COMPOSER, AND BANDLEADER

Interviewed by Eric Myers

Sydney Arts Guide, April 25, 2026

Aaron Blakey is a New Zealand-born jazz pianist/composer based in Sydney. He has been performing since 2006 and has studied in New Zealand (Auckland University), in Japan (under tutelage from Yuki Arimasa, former Berklee College professor), and in Australia at the Conservatorium of Music in Sydney. He moved to Sydney in 2011 after a four-year stint of playing in Japan as an active pianist on the Tokyo jazz scene, including a stint at the internationally renowned New York Bar & Grill at the Shinjuku Park Hyatt, as featured in the 2003 blockbuster movie Lost in Translation…

WHERE IT ALL WENT WRONG: THE CASE AGAINST JOHN HOWARD

Book Review by Eric Myers

Sydney Arts Guide, April 30, 2026

The author Amy Remeikis is chief political analyst at the Australia Institute. Her new book Where It All Went Wrong: The Case Against John Howard is welcome; it’s a book that’s long overdue. Remeikas argues that many of today’s societal problems can be traced back to Howard’s policies as PM for 11 years, 1996-2007. “He started the shift from the collective to the individual in Australia,” she writes, “and in doing so made us all the more vulnerable to the divisive messages of today”…